Growing Rosellas in the Tropics

GROWING ROSELLAS IN THE TROPICS

Rosella plants

Growing rosella plants from seed is very easy. Last year I dried and saved some seeds from our first crop of rosellas. These were the rosellas which I didn't consider good enough for jam, however they produced enough seeds for a future planting, I just dried the seeds on absorbent kitchen paper in my sunny laundry for a couple of weeks and then stored them in a plastic container in the crisper of the refrigerator until I was ready to use them. 

Beef Stew in the Slow Cooker or Crock Pot

Beef pies, yum, who doesn't like a meat pie?

This very tasty and easy beef stew  can be easily adapted to meat pies or French casseroles served in mini Cocettes, or with the addition of dumplings, can feed crowds of people. 

FRIENDSHIP TEA CAKE

FRIENDSHIP TEA CAKE

Ten days ago I met Herman the German. He is a sourdough cake, who starts life as a sourdough starter, and grows on the kitchen bench for 10 days. He has his own website which can be found at:  http://www.hermanthegermanfriendshipcake.com/

My long term foodie friend Julia, visited me at home with some of her deliciously cooked Herman Friendship cake  and a portion of her Herman sourdough starter. I have stirred, fed and nurtured Herman all week, and on the weekend, Herman multiplied to four, and the cooking began. Two friendship cakes and a loaf of sourdough bread later, Herman is officially a member of the family. The cake is delicious and keeps well in the freezer and also makes a sensational dessert with the addition of cream, ice cream etc.

Herman Sourdough bread:

My sourdough bread exceeded all of my expectations. I followed Cheryl's advice from Herman's website, and started the kneading process after lunch, letting it rise overnight, and then cooked the loaf for breakfast the following morning, using half strong white flour, and half Laucke's Multigrain Soy and Linseed bread making flour. No bread maker involved. The smell of the sourdough bread cooking throughout the house early in the morning was heavenly.

The recipe for the bread can be found at Herman the German's website.

Friendship Tea Cake

Ingredients:

1 Herman sourdough starter

1 cup of sugar (8oz or 225g)

2 cups of S.R. Flour (or 2 cups plain flour and 2 heaped tsp. baking powder)

Half teaspoon salt

2/3 cup  of cooking oil (160ml)

2 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla essence

1 normal can pie apple (or 2 cooking apples cut into chunks)

1 cup raisins (200g)

2 heaped tsp. cinnamon

2 heaped tsp. baking powder

Optional:

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup melted butter

Method:

Mix everything together in a large bowl,  including the sourdough starter and spoon into a large greased baking dish. Sprinkle with a quarter of a cup of brown sugar and a quarter of a cup of melted butter. (This last step is optional but well worth it.)

Bake for 45 minutes at 170-180 deg. C. Test the middle with a clean knife. I find it cooks beautifully in this time, however you may need to cover in alfoil and bake for a further 20 minutes to ensure it is cooked properly in the middle.

In 9 days time, I will have four Herman sourdough starters, which means more bread baking  and other variations. There are lots of recipes available on his website. If you have always wanted to try a sourdough starter and make your own bread, this really works.

The Herman Sourdough Starter Mix:

150g (5oz) plain flour
225g (8oz) castor sugar
1 packet of active dry yeast
275 ml or 1/2 pint of warm milk
55ml (2 fl oz) of lukewarm water

Method:

1. Dissolve the yeast in warm water for 10 minutes and stir.
2. Add the flour and sugar then mix thoroughly.
3. Slowly stir in the warm milk.
4. Cover the bowl in a clean cloth.
5. Leave in a cool dry place for 24 hours.
6. Now proceed from day one of the 10 day cycle.

From the Herman the German's website: YOU CANNOT PUT ME IN THE FRIDGE OR I WILL DIE.IF I STOP BUBBLING I AM DEAD.

Day 1 - Put me in a large mixing bowl and cover loosely with a tea towel

Day 2 - Stir well

Day 3 - Stir well

Day 4 - Herman is hungry. Add 1 cup each of plain flour, sugar and milk. Stir well.

Day 5 - Stir well

Day 6 - Stir well

Day 7 - Stir well

Day 8 - Stir well

Day 9 - Add the same as Day 4 and stir well. Divide into 4 equal portions and give away to friends with a copy of these instructions. Keep the fourth portion.

What a great idea to be able to give one away to a friend, accompanied by some Friendship tea cake.

Do you think dear Reader, that one of the nicest things in life is when a friend arrives unexpectedly with some home cooked goodies to be shared and enjoyed?

Dame Elizabeth Murdoch Rose, a Hybrid Tea. The flower, a gift from my neighbour.

Tropical Eton Mess

We have now been home nearly two weeks, after travelling for 7 weeks overseas in Spain and England, and sleeping patterns are just returning to normal. Now that I am emerging from the fog of jetlag, it is time to start cooking again and trying out some of the fantastic dishes we enjoyed overseas.

Our friends Paul and Jenny came over for dinner last night, a farewell before they travel to the U.S. for a well earned holiday. This was a perfect opportunity to have some fun in the kitchen. The food all disappeared so quickly, however I managed to take some photos of dessert.

This dish is so popular in the United Kingdom, and yet I have never prepared or tasted Eton Mess. Whilst on holidays, we spent a weekend in Devon with our friends Joe and Jane Byrne, who assembled an amazing Eton Mess for dessert one evening, which of course  included their seasonal berries. Jane assured me that I could use our tropical fruits in the Mess. Thanks Joe and Jane for the inspiration to prepare this iconic and very easy British dessert.

This is my Australian Tropical version of Eton Mess, including strawberries and blueberries, but without the fresh raspberries.

Ingredients:

1 container (300ml) Double cream
6-9 meringue nests (It is much easier just to buy them from the supermarket unless you feel you must make them from scratch)
Fruits of your choice. I used 1 punnet blueberries, 1  punnet sliced strawberries, 2 sliced kiwi fruit, and pomegranate seeds for presentation. Mangoes when available at Christmas time would also work well. Neil is also keen to try mandarin segments.

Preparation:

Set aside the equivalent of 1/2 a meringue nest for each person you are serving, chop roughly and place in the base of the dish in which you serving the Eton Mess. This ensures you can enjoy some crunchy pieces of meringue.

Smash up the rest of the meringue nests and place in the base of a large bowl.

Whip or whisk the cream until firm.

Chop up the fruit.

Place the fruit over the meringue nests.

Mix the cream through the meringue and the fruit and it is ready for serving.

Serve in dishes or nice glasses over the meringue base. You can be as decorative or as "messy" as you like with this dessert and it will still taste fantastic. However, the quality of the cream is important, and only the best double cream will do.

I decorated the dishes with pomegranate seeds and a sliced strawberry, but that is optional.

I would love to hear if you have tried Eton Mess, and have an interesting story to tell about where and when you ate it.

Sicilian Pickled Eggplant

Pickling is a great way to use up my excess homegrown eggplant, as the quantity processes right down to comparatively small and manageable quantities. This pickle can to be eaten with roasted Mediterranean vegetables, with cheese, salads, and will be the star of any antipasta platter.

The recipe was given to me by Kara during a visit from Brisbane, and was handed  to her by her Sicilian neighbour. Rod and Kara have progressed from being fairly uninterested in eating eggplant to raving about  the variety of dishes that their neighbour can create with his homegrown eggplant, including this pickle. Sicilian pickled eggplant on toast for breakfast? I am not sure about that, but apparently Rod is hooked.

I like to use smaller eggplant if possible as they seem much crisper, less bitter, and easier to work with, but of course you will need more.  The size probably doesn't really matter though with this pickle given the processes involved.

Adjust the amount of garlic and herbs according to your tastes, but remember that they will be actively flavouring your pickle beautifully whilst marinating in the refrigerator. If you can acquire some fresh garlic from the markets, and it has recently been harvested all over the country, that will be a bonus.
.
Ingredients:

6 large or 12 small eggplants,
Salt
2 litres vinegar
Vegetable oil
4 large cloves of very fresh garlic
4 red chillies (or 2 if using the large red ones)
Oregano
Parsley
Rosemary

Preparing the eggplant for pickling:

Peel them, top and tail them,  and slice them lengthwise thinly. Salt the slices to remove the liquid and press over night. The ideal way to press them is to place the slices between boards covered with kitchen wrap and weigh them down with bricks. This time I layered them between cutting boards and weighed them down with heavy dishes and books in my kitchen, whatever you have to apply maximum weight. The eggplant needs to be very thin with all the brown juices removed. Some seeds might even pop out in the process.

Sterilise bottles:

Place 4 small pickling bottles in the oven at 120 deg. for 20 minutes to sterilise,  ready for bottling.
Remember to remove the lids and place bottles and lids in separately, not touching.

Pickling the eggplant slices:

• Remove the eggplant from the boards.
• Finely chop garlic, chillies, and herbs and set aside.
• Boil the vinegar in a large saucepan and reduce to a simmer.
• Place the eggplant in the vinegar to coat. 
• Remove eggplant slices and drain and squeeze tightly. ( I use thin plastic gloves for this process, and squeeze them between clean tea towels in a few batches.) The squeezing is very therapeutic, and the eggplant flesh is firm enough to maintain it's texture. Believe me, it needs a really good squeeze to remove the last traces of vinegar and juices. Lots of eggplant seeds will fall out, this is fine, and can be shaken out form the tea towels quite easily. There are still plenty of seeds left.
• Mix vegetable oil, eggplant, garlic, chilli, and chopped herbs,  in a medium sized bowl. Mix it up well with your hands. I used gloves because of the chillies.
• Place the pickled eggplant in your sterilised jars, squashing the mixture down as hard as you can  below the  rim of the jar, allowing enough room to cover the eggplant with vegetable oil.
• The idea is to minimise the amount of oil in the jar as the eggplant will absorb the flavour of the oil very easily, and I didn't want that to happen.  That is also why the milder vegetable oil is used instead of olive oil.
• Seal and keep jars in the refrigerator and eat within a couple of weeks.

Easy Tuna Kedgeree (our Family Friday Night Special Recipe)

Friday Night Special is a McNee family recipe originally passed on by Neil's sister, Suzanne, many years ago. Whilst I still rely on memory, it was a good excuse to talk to Sue tonight to find out what the original recipe actually was. I had remembered it fairly well, but have obviously gradually increased the quantity of curry powder over the years. The original recipe was only two teaspoons.

Aussie Meat Pie and Sour Cream Pastry (Beef Pie)

Everyone loves a good meat pie, and even though it takes a bit of work it is well worth the effort, even in the summer  heat. It is also an economical meal, and feeds a crowd, or means you have leftovers for a couple of days. Buying good quality chuck steak is the secret, and I ask the butcher to slice it for me from a whole chuck and then dice it myself into 3 cm cubes.